Architect Soft Skills: Part I, Introduction

There's a lot of discussion about the hard skills software architects need to have; for example, see one example at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI).

Also, here's another example by Rob Daigneau. Architects need to be familiar with a wide range of technologies, methodologies, understand the software lifecycle, have design experience, and some say an architect must write code, and so on. Hard skills are important--very important--but it doesn't stop there. There are also several soft skills that (good) architects should have.

The following is my current list of soft skills an architect should strive to have:

• Leadership. Influencing others to accomplish tasks and following your guidance
• System thinking. Understand decisions and constrains in the wide scope pertaining to whole of the solution at hand. This includes the ability to abstract problems.
• Strategic thinking. Understanding decisions and constrains and their alighments to the overall business of the company.
• Organizational politics. Understand the environment you operate in and how it influences you.
• Communications. Making sure you get your point across.
• Human relations. Understand the "people" aspects or human factors and dynamics. This includes things like negotiation, pragmatism etc

On the next posts on this subject I expand on each of these skills and explain why I think they are important for software architects.

I'd also love to hear if you think that there are other soft skills needed that I am missing (or if you think I am completely wrong :) )

Posted by Arnon Rotem-Gal-Oz at 07:47 AM  Permalink